Watercraft

ABSTRACT

A watercraft of the &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;surf-board&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; type including an engine driving a propellor, a handle connected to the hull of the craft by elongate tension means to enable the craft user to grasp the handle whilst standing on the hull and means enabling the engine to run for at least a limited period of time following inversion of the craft.

United States Patent [1 1 Bennett WATERCRAFT [75] Inventor: DavidBennett, Meipham, England [73] Assignee: North Hants Engineering CompanyLimited [22] Filed: July 18, 1973 [21] Appl. No,: 380,234

[] Foreign Application Priority Data July 26, 1972 United Kingdom34890/72 Oct. 11, 1972 United Kingdom 46942/72 [52] U.S. Cl 115/70;137/43; 244/135 R; 280/5 R [51] Int. Cl. B63b /00 [58] Field of Search115/70; 244/135 R; 137/255, 43; 280/5 R, 123/136, 222/376, 377

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Hunter et a1 244/135 R 1 May13, 1975 3,165,087 1/1965 Stevens et al /70 3270707 9/1966 Rozanski115/70 3,608,512 9/1971 Thompson.... 115/70 3,623,447 11/1971 Jacobson115/70 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 573.288 11/1945 United Kingdom244/ R Primary E.\"uminerAlbert J. Makay Assistant E,\-aminer-Donald W.Underwood Attorney, Agent, or FirmLars0n, Taylor and Hinds [57] ABSTRACTA watercraft of the surf-board" type including an engine driving apropellor, a handle connected to the hull of the craft by elongatetension means to enable the craft user to grasp the handle'whilststanding on the hull and means enabling the engine to run for at leastalimited period of time following inversion of the craft. e

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED MAY 1 75 SHEET 10F 2 SHEET 2 BF 2FlllZ l I I I I I I I I l I ,7

/ l I l l l I l I I WATERCRAFT This invention relates to a craft whichenables the user to experience what is generally known as surfriding inthe absence of those sweeping waves known as surf.

According to the invention, there is provided a watercraft comprising anelongate hull, an engine mounted on the hull, the cross-section of thehull rearwardly of the engine having a width substantially greater thanits depth to provide a craft user with an appreciable upper surface areaon which to lay, sit or stand, a propellor shaft extending rearwardly ofthe engine and located in a housing provided by the hull, a propellerfixedly connected to the rear end of the propellorshaft, handle meansconnected to the hull by elongate tension means to enable the craft userto grasp the handle means whilst standing on said upper surface area,and means enabling the engine to remain running for at least a limitedperiod of time following inversion of the attitude of the craft.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of exampleonly with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through a craft according to theinvention, and

FIG. 2 is a section through the fuel tank of the craft and showingdiagrammatically the fuel supply and vent ducting.

Referring to the drawings, the craft consists of a hull 12 at the frontof which is mounted an aircooled engine 14 disposed so that whencounterbalanced by the weight of the human rider, the composite isheavily weighted at the rear such that the board assumes a nose upattitude. The cross-section of the hull rearwardly of the engine has awidth substantially greater than its depth (in the manner of a surfboard) to provide the rider with an appreciable upper surface area onwhich to lay, sit or stand. Along the centre line of the hull, andextending towards the rear, a tunnel 16 is formed in the hull whichprovides a housing for a propeller 18 driven via prop shaft 20 from thefront mounted engine. In the region of the propeller a shaped fairing 22is fitted so that it forms an enveloping tubular shroud in conjunctionwith an adjacent portion of the tunnel to fully protect and shroud thepropeller. Extending outwards and downwards from the fairing 22 oneither side of the centre line of the hull are two fins 24 which givelateral stability to the craft; the fins may be omitted if desired.

The prop shaft is rotatably supported in front, centre and rear bearings26, 28 and 30 respectively.

Control of the engine power is effected by means of a hand-operatedthrottle including a lever 32 which is associated with a shaped handleto be grasped by the riders handQThis handle is attached to the hull bya rigid tension member 34 capable of being moved in a vertical plane;alternatively, member 34 may be replaced by a tension wire attached tothe deck immediately behind of the engine. Control of the throttle isprovided by a flexible linear transmission member such as a Bowden orsimilar control cable 35 connected to lever 32. A centrifugal clutch 36is fitted between the output of the engine and a flexible coupling 38connecting the clutch to the prop shaft 20 so that power cannot betransmitted to the prop shaft unless the engine speed is increased to apredetermined value by depressing lever 32. The craft is of suchdimension that an average adult may ride upon it in the sitting orstanding position, and provided that enough weight is placed upon therear end of the hull, also in a prone section.

Directional control for the craft is achieved by movement of the ridersbody weight such as to cause an excessive dipping of one rear cornerinto the water, so providing sufficient additional drag on theappropriate side as to cause a deviation from the previous heading.

The hull is made from plastics moulding filled with foamed polyurethaneand has sufficient buoyancy to be able to remain afloat even though allunfilled spaces in the hull and engine compartment should becomeflooded.

The engine 14 is housed in a compartment 43 having a detachable cover 42sealed at 44 to the remainder of the hull and is preferably a single ormulti-cylinder engine operating on a two stroke cycle. Fuel may bepetroleum or petroil mixture, or liquid petroleum gas stored in a ventedtank 46.

Air for cooling and carburettion purposes enters the engine compartmentthrough an elongate downwardly extending duct 48 forming part of cover42; the length of the duct is chosen so that if the craft hasinadvertently capsized and is floating upside-down, water can enterpart-way up the duct without actually entering the compartment. Coolingair is drawn by engine fan over the engine and is directed to an outlet50 in the rear of cover 42. Associated with outlet 50 is a gravityoperated counterweighted valve 52 which normally is positioned away fromoutlet 50 to permit exhaust cooling air to pass therethrough toatmosphere but which when the craft is floating upside down is biased toa position in which it closes outlet 50 to seal the compartment andprevent water from entering therein. Tests have shown that with thecompartment sealed and the engine in its idling state, the air trappedin the sealed engine compartment will permit the engine to run for someeight minutes which should be sufficient to enable the craft user tobring the craft to its correct attitude from an upside down position.

Engine exhaust gases are led downwardly to a silencer 54 spaced from thebottom surface of the hull so as to be water cooled in use and having arearwardly directed outlet 56; the silencer is composed of two facingrectangular plates, the lower one of which is provided with small holes58 at its forward edge to permit water to drain therefrom when the craftis taken from the water.

The petrol tank 46 includes a main reservoir 46a having a non-ventedfiller cap 60, and an auxiliary reservoir 46b disposed below the mainreservoir and in communication therewith via a tube 62 dependingdownwardly therefrom. Reservoir 46b has an outlet 64 connected by fuelfeed tubing 66 to the engine carburettor to supply fuel thereto undergravity. Located in the tubing is a three-way connector 67 enabling thefuel feed tubing '66 to communicate with the main reservoir above thefuel level via bleed tubing 68 and a one-way gravity operated valve 70.

The top of the fuel tank also incorporates a diaphragm operated bleedvalve 72 to enable vent air to enter the top of the tank via U-tube 74in communication with the inlet of the valve 72.

With the craft in its correct attitude and the engine running, fuel willbe fed under gravity through tubing 66 to the carburettor and vent airwill be drawn into the top of the tank through valve 72; valve 70 willbe open allowing fuel to rise in tubing 68 up to the level in the mainreservoir.

With the craft upside down and the engine running, fuel will still befed under gravity through tubing 66 to the carburettor since fuel isretained by tube 62 in the auxiliary tank which is now located above thelevel of the carburettor; vent air can still be drawn through valve 72and valve 70 will be closed. When the craft is returned to its correctattitude any air that might find its way from the auxiliary reservoir totubing 66 will be bled via tubing 68 to the top of the main reservoirand therefore will be prevented from reaching the carburettor where itmight stall the engine. The function of the U-tube 74 is to catch anyfuel which may pass through valve 72 and thereby prevent it fromspilling into the engine compartment. Valve 70 employs two balls 76 oneonly engaging valve seat 78, the other ball being operable to damp outany pressure surges in the petrol.

In an alternative arrangement (not shown), duct 48 and outlet 50 aredispensed with and are replaced by two gravity operated valves in theupper surface of the engine compartment and two gravity operated valvesin the lower surface of the engine compartment. When the craft iscorrectly afloat, the lower valves will be closed to prevent waterentering the engine compartment and the upper valves will be open, oneacting as an inlet and the other as an exhaust for cooling andcarburettion air. When the craft is floating upside down, the so-calledupper valves are closed and the socalled lower, valves are open toenable the engine to run continuously in its inverted attitude. Since inthe inverted attitude of the craft the engine need only be in itsslow-running or idling state the cross-sectional area of the inlet valvein the lower lower surface of the engine compartment can advantageouslybe smaller than that of the upper inlet valve whereby the engine speedcan be prevented from being inadvertently increased by the throttlelever 32 whilst the craft is inverted thereby preventing the propellerfrom being driven in that attitude.

In a further embodiment (not shown), the above mentioned inlet andoutlet valves are omitted and replaced by air inlet and exhaustrectangular sect-ion ducts respectively located forwardly and rearwardlyof the engine compartment, each duct admitting to both the upper andlower surfaces of the craft and being in communication with the enginecompartment via a respective one of two pipes located partway along thelength of the ducts. In the correct attitude of the craft, water canenter the lower end of each duct but does not reach the level of thepipes, and air can enter and leave the engine compartment through theupper portions of the ducts and the pipes. Should the craft be inverted,water again enters the lower ends of the slot but does not reach thelevel of the pipes. For the reasons mentioned above, the cross-sectionalarea of the lower end of the inlet duct is made smaller than the area ofits upper end.

I claim:

1. A watercraft comprising an elongate hull, an engine mounted in theforward part of the hull, the crosssection of the hull rearwardly of theengine having a width substantially greater than its depth to provide acraft user with an appreciable upper surface area on which to lay, sitor stand, a propeller shaft extending rearwardly of the engine andlocated in a housing provided by the hull, a propellor fixedly connectedto the rear end of the propellor shaft, handle means connected to thehull by elongate tension means to enable the craft user to grasp thehandle means while standing on said upper surface area, means enablingthe engine to remain running for at least a limited period of timefollowing inversion of the attitude of the craft, a fuel supply meanshaving a main reservoir for supplying fuel under gravity to the enginecarburettor when the hull is correctly afloat, and an auxiliaryreservoir disposed below the main reservoir and in communicationtherewith via a tube depending downwardly therefrom, the tube beingoperable to retain fuel in the auxiliary tank when the hull is upsidedown to enable fuel to be fed under gravity from the auxiliary fuel tankto the carburettor, the main reservoir having a fuel filling opening, anon-vented cap for closing said opening, a bleed valve for venting themain reservoir, and wherein a bleed tube connects the top of the mainreservoir with a fuel feed tubing connecting the carburettor to theauxiliary reservoir, and wherein a one-way valve is incorporated intothe bleed tube to permit air to bleed from the feed tubing to the mainreservoir when the attitude of the craft is corrected from an invertedposition.

1. A watercraft comprising an elongate hull, an engine mounted in theforward part of the hull, the cross-section of the hull rearwardly ofthe engine having a width substantially greater than its depth toprovide a craft user with an appreciable upper surface area on which tolay, sit or stand, a propeller shaft extending rearwardly of the engineand located in a housing provided by the hull, a propellor fixedlyconnected to the rear end of the propellor shaft, handle means connectedto the hull by elongate tension means to enable the craft user to graspthe handle means while standing on said upper surface area, meansenabling the engine to remain running for at least a limited period oftime following inversion of the attitude of the craft, a fuel supplymeans having a main reservoir for supplying fuel under gravity to theengine carburettor when the hull is correctly afloat, and an auxiliaryreservoir disposed below the main reservoir and in communicationtherewith via a tube depending downwardly therefrOm, the tube beingoperable to retain fuel in the auxiliary tank when the hull is upsidedown to enable fuel to be fed under gravity from the auxiliary fuel tankto the carburettor, the main reservoir having a fuel filling opening, anon-vented cap for closing said opening, a bleed valve for venting themain reservoir, and wherein a bleed tube connects the top of the mainreservoir with a fuel feed tubing connecting the carburettor to theauxiliary reservoir, and wherein a one-way valve is incorporated intothe bleed tube to permit air to bleed from the feed tubing to the mainreservoir when the attitude of the craft is corrected from an invertedposition.